Pyrénées – Mont Perdu Spain & France
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PYRÉNÉES – MONT PERDU SPAIN & FRANCE This outstanding mountain landscape between France and Spain, is centred on Mont Perdu, a limestone massif rising to 3,352 m. The site includes three spectacular cirque walls on the steep northern side in France and two of Europe's largest and deepest canyons on the Spanish side, all classic examples of these landforms. It is also a relic of a once widespread highland way of life now surviving only in this part of the Pyrénées, in a pastoral landscape which provides an exceptional insight into a past European society through its villages, farms, fields, upland pastures and mountain roads. COUNTRIES Spain and France NAME Pyrénées - Mont Perdu MIXED NATURAL & CULTURAL WORLD HERITAGE TRANSBOUNDARY SERIAL SITE 1997: Inscribed on the World Heritage List under Natural Criteria vii and vii and Cultural Criteria iii, iv and v. 1999: Extended north as a Cultural Landscape to include the Commune of Gèdre in France. STATEMENT OF OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE [pending] The UNESCO World Heritage Committee issued the following statement at the time of inscription: Justification for Inscription The Committee inscribed the site under natural criteria (vii) and (viii). The calcareous massif of the Mount Perdu displays classic geological land forms, including deep canyons and spectacular cirque walls. It is also an outstanding scenic landscape with meadows, lakes, caves and forests on mountain slopes. In addition, the area is of high interest to science and conservation. Concerning cultural values, the Committee inscribed the property on the basis of criteria (iii), (iv) and (v). The Pyrénées-Mont Perdu area between France and Spain is an outstanding cultural landscape which combines scenic beauty with a socio-economic structure that has its roots in the past and illustrates a mountain way of life that has become rare in Europe. INTERNATIONAL DESIGNATION 1977: The Ordesa-Viñamala Reserve designated a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme (51,396 ha). IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY Parc National des Pyrénées Occidentales II National Park Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido II National Park BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE Iberian Highlands (2.16.6 ) 1 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Situated in the west-central Pyrénées 45 km south of Lourdes in France, straddling the international boundary between the Department of Haut-Pyrénées in France and the Aragonese province of Huesco in Spain, at 42°38'N, 0°10'W. Comprises the eastern half of the Western Pyrenees National Park in France, and Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park in Spain. DATES AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT 1918: Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (2,100 ha), the oldest in Spain, established by Spanish Royal Decree to protect the Spanish ibex, extinct since 2000; 1941: The Gavarnie, Troumouse and Estaubé Site Classé (Classified Reserve) established; 1966: The Viñamala National Hunting Reserve (51,396 ha) adjacent to the west of the Spanish park; 1966: Three buffer zones east and south of the Spanish National Park established, also the Los Circos National Hunting Reserve to its east; 1967: The Western Pyrenees National Park established by French Governmental decree; a buffer zone included the remaining area of the Site Classé; 1977: Viñamala Reserve designated the Ordesa-Viñamala Biosphere Reserve; 1982: Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park extended to 15,608 ha; 1988: The cooperative Mont Perdu Management Charter between France and Spain signed; 1988: The Spanish National Park established as a Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive and received the Council of Europe Diploma category A, renewed in 1993. LAND TENURE In France the land is mainly owned by the communities of the Barèges and Aure valleys. In Spain it is owned by the five local municipalities of Torla, Fanlo, Tella, Bielsa and Broto. Some land is also in state and private ownership (España-France, 1997). AREA The site covers 30,639 ha: 20,134 ha in Spain and 10,505 ha in France: The Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (OMPNP): 15,608 ha Part of the Viñamala Wildlife Sanctuary core area: 3,200 ha A peripheral zone: 1,326 ha Pyrénées Occidentales National Park (PNPO) eastern part: 7,451 ha Site Classé of Gavarnie, Troumouse & Estaubé: 3,054 ha ALTITUDE From 600m to 3,352m (Mont Perdu/Monte Perdido, in Spain) PHYSICAL FEATURES The site extends over some 20 km of the High Pyrenees. In this part of the range, the precipitous northern slopes are carved into three sheer-walled glacial cirques with high intervening ridges cascading with waterfalls, which tower spectacularly above farmed and forested valleys. The barren less steep southern slopes are a high arid steppe deeply fissured by two of Europe's largest and deepest canyons, Ordesa and Añisclo, two deep valleys, Pineta and the gorge of Escuaín, separated by three mountain spurs, and the Cirque of Soaso. The three valleys run parallel to the main range, open to oceanic influences from the west. On the ridge between is Mont Perdu, third highest peak in the Pyrenees, one of three jagged peaks formed from a 3,000m high stepped massif of folded marine limestone 50 million years old. To its north three convergent north-south valleys are separated by high crests of schistose and sandstone rock between the three cirques of Gavarnie, the most spectacular, with the highest waterfall in Europe outside Norway (423m), Estaubé, and Troumouse with the wall of Baroude. They are classic examples of the form. The name ‘Perdu’ was given because the peak is invisible from the north. To the southwest of the peaks is a high sandstone and schistose plateau at about 2,000m. It is a country 2 of fast receding glaciers: the Monte Perdido glacier shrank by 85% during the 20th century, 30% of this since 1991. But there are also many cliffs, caves, lakes, waterfalls, meadows and forests from which three rivers flow north and seven, south. Its isolation has preserved an unchanged relic of pastoral landscape once widespread in upland southern Europe now surviving only in this part of the Pyrenees. CLIMATE Altitude, topography and aspect significantly affect the local climate which encompasses dry karstic conditions on the summits to lush woodland at the foot of the north side and can be very changeable. The two main climatic regimes are the humid oceanic climate from the northwest and a continental sub- mediterranean climate on the south side. The average annual temperature is 5°C, the mean winter temperature in February is -1°C, the mean summer temperature in July is 12°C. Precipitation varies from 900mm to 2,000mm, the annual mean rainfall being 1600mm with an approximate seasonal distribution of: winter (16%), spring (30%), summer (22%) and autumn (32%). Snow can lie from October to April. VEGETATION The original forest at the lower levels was removed by burning and cutting so that the present forest, though dense, is not primary growth. At upper levels the open grasslands have been maintained free of scrub for centuries by grazing sheep. There is nevertheless a rich mosaic of vegetation in six contrasting zones within the site: sub-mediterranean, collinean, montane, subalpine, alpine and rock with scree. The submediterranean type is mostly found in valleys in the south and is dominated by holm oak Quercus ilex rotundifolia in rocky sites with Portugese oak Quercus faginea in deep soils. The collinean vegetation is dominated by durmast oak Quercus sessiliflora. The montane areas to 1,700m are characterised by beech Fagus sylvatica, silver fir Abies alba and Scotch pine Pinus sylvestris. The subalpine vegetation above 2,300m is dominated by dwarfed black pine Pinus uncinata and the alpine area carries a high proportion of species endemic to the Pyrenees. The flora includes more than 1,500 species, of which 50 are Pyrenean endemics (España-Francia, 1997; but 3,500 with 200 endemics according to IUCN, 1996). It includes the endemic Pyrenean violet Ramondia pyrenaica, Borderea pyrenaica of a genus endemic to the Pyrenees, Pyrenean saxifrage Saxifraga longifolia, S. iratiana, silvery vetch Vicia argentea, Antirrhinum sempervirens and Pinguicula longifolia, alpenrose Rhododendron ferrugineum, edelweiss Leontopodium alpinum and rock jasmine Androsace pyrenaica (AMPPM, 1995). FAUNA The site supports many species typical of the Pyrénées, totaling 32 mammals, 171 birds, 8 reptiles and 6 amphibians. Less common mammals include Eurasian otter Lutra lutra, marmot Marmota marmota (reintroduced), ermine Mustela erminea, wild boar Sus scrofa, ungulates such as roe deer Capreolus capreolus and Pyrenean chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica with a population estimated at 800 individuals. The Spanish ibex Capra pyrenaica became extinct in 2000. A very small population of brown bears Ursus arctos remained in the Pyrenees until the mid 1990s but the last was shot by a hunter in 2004. The Pyrenean population now consists of bears imported from Slovenia. There are also the wild cat Felis silvestris and the semi-aquatic insectivorous shrew-like Pyrenean desman or water-mole Galemys pyrenaicus (VU), which occurs at low elevations. The avifauna is richer on the less visited Spanish side. It includes lammergeyer Gypaetus barbatus (7 individuals), in decline throughout Europe because of its dependence on pastoralism, Bonelli's eagle Hieraëtus fasciatus, Griffon vulture Gyps fulvus, Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus (EN), peregrine Falco peregrinus, hazel grouse Tetrastes bonasia, capercaillie Tetrao urogallus (20), partridge Perdix perdix (50), rock ptarmigan Lagopus mutus, Alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus, chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (100), black woodpecker Dryocopus martius (30), treecreeper Certhia familiaris, citril finch Serinus citrinella, wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria, northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, black redstart Phoenicurus ochrurus, Alpine accentor Prunella collaris and white-winged snow finch Montifringilla nivalis (numbers from 1996 in Heath & Evans, 2000). Reptiles include asp Vipera aspis, the Pyrenean rock lizard Iberolacerta bonnali, which is restricted to high elevations and the palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus.